1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to voltage multiplier circuits and more particularly to DC to DC converters.
2. Prior Art
Voltage multipliers typically require a pre-regulated input voltage and multiple stacked transformer windings. Most high voltage designs (above 10 kv) use a combination of single-phase transformers and multipliers which generally require heavy magnetic elements with labor intensive windings and potting. Also, voltage multipliers generating high voltages typically require coatings to prevent arcing between components. In addition, high voltage power supply designs generally use hermetically sealed semiconductors and polarized capacitor components; where in practice the capacitors and diodes in a high voltage power supply dissipate large amounts of heat leading to hot spots within the sealing coat causing component failure. Consequently, many high voltage power supply designs are designed on the basis of short mean time to repair (MTTR) versus low mean between failures (MTBF) and are only about 90% efficient. The other 10% is lost as heat lastly, because most packaging sub-assemblies of high voltage power supplies are cubic in shape, i.e., non-planar, they require expensive mechanical assembly techniques.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a voltage multiplying circuit, comprising a multiphase power stage and at least one phased voltage multiplier stage connected to the multiphase power stage.
In accordance with one method of the present invention a method for providing a high voltage power supply. The method comprising the steps of providing a multi-phased power stage and providing at least one multi-phased voltage multiplier stage connected to the multi-phase power stage.
In accordance with a second method of the present invention a method for generating high voltage. The method comprising steps of providing a plurality of multi-phased voltages and providing at least one multi-phase multiplier stage. Then connecting the plurality of multi-phased voltages to at least one multi-phase multiplier stage.